Bohachuk Eyes Undisputed at 154

Serhii Bohachuk says his goal is to become undisputed at 154 following his sixth-round stoppage victory over Ishmael Davis in their WBC title eliminator last Saturday night in Riyadh.

154-lb Targets

It could take some time for Bohachuk to accomplish that goal, as he would need to set fights with these three champions:

– Sebastian Fundora: WBC & WBO
– Bakhram Murtazaliev: IBF
– Terence Crawford: WBA

Crawford is unlikely to agree to fight Bohachuk unless he’s showered with money because he’s looking for the motherload payday against Canelo Alvarez at 168. He won’t want to risk his unbeaten record after the close call he had against former WBA 154-lb champion Israil Madrimov.

Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) is in position to fight the winner of the February 22nd clash between WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Israil Madrimov. If it’s Vergil that wins that fight, it would setup a rematch between Bohachuk and him. Turki Alalashikh might need to be involved to coax Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) to fight Serhii again.

Vergil Jr. beat Bohachuk by a controversial 12-round majority decision on August 10th last summer, and many fans believe that was a robbery. Interestingly, Ortiz Jr. has shown no interest in fighting Bohachuk again after that match. Some feel that he doesn’t want to risk getting beaten.

The Blue Flame

“Bohachuk is a machine. This guy does not stop punching. He comes forward, and he just keeps punching,” said Teddy Atlas on his YouTube channel, reacting to Serhii Bohacuk’s knockout win over Ishmael Davis last Saturday night in Riyadh.

Bohachuk is now is in the driver’s seat now. He just won the WBC title eliminator, and he deserves it. The fans will concur with me; some of them thought he won against Vergil Ortiz. I thought it was very close. I gave it to Ortiz. It was very close. Some people will say he got what he deserved now that he got another shot for a title.

His punches are straight and concise; they’re on target. There’s no fat in between. It’s hard to counter in between them after he’s done because sometimes he’ll stand there for a split second. You can counter him right back or time him in the middle,” said Atlas about Bohachuk.

With the win over Davis, Bohachuk is the WBC mandatory for Sebastian Fundora’s belt. He’s supposed to be fighting Errol Spence in the first half of 2025, but it remains to be seen if that match will happen. If so, Bohachuk will be ready to take on the winner or grab the WBC belt if it falls vacant.

“This guy [Bohachuk] doesn’t throw anything wide. He puts pressure on, good pressure,” said Atlas. “You see a flame, but when you see a pure flame, you see nothing. You see blue. When you see another flame, you see red, orange. But when you see a real intense, pure flame, sometimes it’s just blue. Bohachuk is a blue flame. There’s nothing fat.

“There’s no orange. There’s no red. That’s the differentiation of someone just throwing punches and a guy throwing them the right way. His fight, the punches are thrown the right way. He has a blue flame. The fight [Bohachuk vs. Davis] was in close the whole time. He dropped Davis in the second round with a left hook. He should be tied up like he’s in handcuffs.

“It wasn’t a quite strong enough clinch, and he [Bohachuk] got loose, and he threw a short left hook inside, and he dropped Davis with that. He kept punching, and that the end of the sixth round, Davis’ corner did the right thing. They did the compassionate thing. They stopped the fight.

Eyeing The Belts

“He dropped him because they were in a clinch actually. You don’t see this too often. But when you clinch, there’s an art to everything in boxing. There’s an art to clinching. Davis didn’t tie him up quite right, and Bohachuk wriggled his way free. There was still a little looseness. If you’re going to clinch somebody, there should be no looseness,” said Atlas.

Bohachuk wasn’t being held when he dropped Davis in the second round with a left hook. The two were in close, and Bohachuk connected with a left hand that he didn’t see.